I wasn't sure where to post this. Since I had surgery last July I have always felt I could eat more than I should be after having a sleeve. I would see fellow sleevers post what they were struggling to eat and I was having no issues eating one egg a month after surgery, in fact I could eat 2 without feeling full. I told my weight loss center about my lack of restriction at my follow apt in November and the lady basically dismissed me like I was crazy.. My weight loss has been slow since the beginning and I've been stalled at the same weight for months.

Today someone brought Panara bagels to work. I haven't had a bagel since before surgery and don't eat much bread at all. I took half a bagel and it went down without any issues. I decided to test to see how much I could eat. I ate the other half and still didn't feel full. I don't think anyone with a properly done sleeve should be able to eat an entire Panara cinnamon crunch bagel. Anyone else able to do this? Before I get backlash for eating this, I don't normally eat breads and don't plan on doing this again. I also weigh and measure what I eat on a daily basis to avoid overeating, which I know I can easily do. Forgot to add, I had this bagel about an hour after I had my normal morning Breakfast so it wasn't like I hadn't eating anything for a long time.

Edited May 29, 201511 yr by crazzeescrapper

I think for a lot of us, we don't have that feeling of being full. For me, I will always measure my food so I don't overeat ever again. I don't want to stretch my sleeve out. The fact that you can eat more may also depend sometimes of what it is. Good luck and good for you for measuring, keep it up!

Well for me that would be impossible... I can only eat maybe 3 or 4 bites of bread without it feeling like it expands in my tummy and I feel so full it's painful. I too have tested it because I love bread and sometimes just want a little bit even though I know I'm not supposed to!

As for eggs, when eating out for breakfast, I always order one egg, and share a little of my hubby's hash browns (I know again another no-no) but it is literally just 3-4 bites, and a side of fruit, and I come away stuffed full.

Is it possible to stretch a sleeve? You said it's been nearly a year for you, whereas I'm only just getting close to the 6 month mark. Good luck with everything.

The standard way to do a "pouch test" is using cottage cheese. I think you can google it to get details. You can also have the doctor do an endoscopy to check out your functional stomach size, but i am going to tell you that it matters less then you think.

I think many of us don't even know what normal hunger/full signals feel like. Even all these years post sleeve, I STILL confuse emotional hunger, thirst and real hunger.

I know you aren't asking for advice but even if your capacity is more than you think it should be - what are the alternatives? When I went through this same feeling I started to realize that HOW and WHAT I eat impacts my "level of hunger" way more than anything. You might consider exploring that a bit more. It was a hard cold realization that even post sleeve, i need to carefully monitor and manage my eating.

Thanks for everyone's input. I realize this wasn't the way to do a "pouch test", but as I said I always could eat more than others. I never thought pre-op that even if I went crazy and over ate that I would be able to eat the amounts that I can. I've made an apt with my surgeons office to get the size of my sleeve checked. I know I will always need to watch what I eat, but was hoping for way more restriction from the sleeve.

I am 7 months post op and I wouldn't be able to eat an entire bagel. I would be full after half of one. I think twice I have had half a cinnamon raisin. Those and that Panera one are one of my favorite foods ever so I have broken the rules a few times as a treat. When I eat to much it is painful so it's not a matter of still being hungry. I would be frustrated as well since this is one of the main factors to having the surgery.

Good luck-

LA

I can eat an entire bagel, if I eat really slowly. It would probably take about 2 hours, but I could do it. My issue is less with it making me feel full and more with it making me sick. The Panera bagel you ate has a ton of sugar, which makes it very yummy, but my stomach hates sugar. I'd have gotten maybe 4-5 bites before I started puking. Now, a nice everything bagel with a little bit of cream cheese, oh I can polish half of that off in 20 minutes and feel quite content. I think that I stop eating after having half, not because I really recognize that I'm not hungry, but because I know that is the amount that "should" make me full. Also, I know if I eat more I'm going to get sick so I've been classically conditioned to stop eating before I feel full which tends to prevent yakking everything I just ate.

I am 10 1/2 po..still only getting 4 to 5 bites and get full. They scared me with the dough ball getting stuck line so I don't go there. Point being I do get full after few bites..

I'll be 9 months post-op this weekend. I don't know if I could eat a whole bagel or not, since I haven't had any bagels since surgery. But I do know that I could probably eat an entire large muffin from my grocery store's bakery. A couple of times now I have bought one and split it with my husband, but I am pretty sure I could eat the whole thing if I tried. The muffins are pretty "cake-y" though and I know cake is way easier for me than breads. Since a bagel is so dense, I think it would be more of a challenge. I was just recently able to eat an entire piece of multi-grain toast with peanut butter on it. It was the first time I was able to eat a whole piece of toast at once. I had tried a few months earlier and only been able to eat about 3/4 of a piece. Anyway, that was after having been sick with a stomach bug for over 24 hours and I wasn't able to eat any meat or protein bars, so I thought I would give a piece of toast a try, since pre-op, toast was always recommended for situations like that. I put peanut-butter on it, just so I could get SOME protein in.

Crazzee -

I have similar experience as you. I have not had a lot of restriction and have been able to eat more than I expected. Could immediately drink large swallows 2 days after getting sleeved. Had no problems with eating a scrambled egg on Day 7 post-op. Was put on soft foods at that same time (my NUT does the 'egg test' and releases sleever to soft foods if they can eat an egg within 20 mins). Was able to eat shellfish after 2 weeks. No problems with anything.

Upon discussing this with NUT, I was advised to just set a timer for 30 mins, and stop eating after that.

Since, I have started to notice a sensation of needing to slow down after eating about 4 oz of food, so it became a little more apparent of when my new sleeve was telling me 'stop, your full'.

Given some of the stories we read here about folks who can barely drink or eat, I think we are blessed to have no issues. My working theory is that folks who had an 'Iron stomach' before sleeve, may have less issues. Or, maybe its the length of the stomach, or maybe the Doc leaves a little more stomach in some than others.

-RC-

I was reading in the "Veterans forum" and found this video about "stomach stretching". I thought it was good. Worth watching.

https://youtu.be/3_aahPETzH0.

Edited June 1, 201511 yr by LovinSoul